LAS VEGAS—Unbeaten US star Floyd Mayweather threw down another provocative gauntlet to boxing rival Manny Pacquiao on Tuesday, daring the Filipino icon to “Step Up Punk” in a posting on his Twitter webpage.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. AP FILE PHOTO

Mayweather hopes to entice Pacquiao into accepting his challenge to meet May 5 in Las Vegas in a mega-fight showdown between the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters, one that boxing fans have wanted to see for years.

“Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see,” Mayweather posted on Twitter.

The move comes as Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum is visiting Pacquiao in the Philippines to discuss who the Asian superstar should fight next and Mayweather awaits the June 1 start of a 90-day jail sentence on domestic violence charges.

Arum originally said that Mayweather was not among possible next foes for “Pac-Man”, listing Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez, Puerto Rican southpaw Miguel Cotto and Americans Tim Bradley and Lamont Peterson as candidates.

But that was assuming Mayweather was going to serve his sentence starting last week. Instead, a judge postponed Mayweather’s trip behind bars until after his already-booked May 5 fight.

“My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk,” Mayweather also tweeted on Tuesday.

Pacquiao, who has won 15 fights in a row over the past seven years, has told Filipino media that he wants the opportunity to fight Mayweather to be a top priority.

Mayweather, who squandered a chance to make a fight with Pacquiao earlier by seeking extraordinary blood testing measures, hopes to add pressure upon Arum and Pacquiao with his Twitter challenge.

But Arum has ripped Mayweather’s May 5 plan, saying he could secure $20 million more with the construction of a temporary venue in Las Vegas to stage such a long-awaited fight before more than twice as many spectators.

Critics see that and other moves as Arum wanting to avoid pitching Pacquiao, 54-3 with two drawn and 38 knockouts, against Mayweather, 42-0 with 26 knockouts.

Past near-deals for Mayweather-Pacquiao have fallen apart for years, sending Pacquiao and Mayweather against different rivals with similar results.

But this time, both fighters are coming off controversial victories.

Pacquiao, a 33-year-old southpaw, won a majority decision over Marquez last November, giving him two wins and a draw over the Mexican but none of them by such a margin that Marquez’s claims he was wronged could be dismissed.

Mayweather, who turns 35 next month, won the World Boxing Council welterweight title with a fourth-round knockout of compatriot Victor Ortiz, but he landed the decisive blow while Ortiz was distracted after the referee had separated the fighters then said they could resume.

Should Pacquiao not be next on Mayweather’s hit list, “Pretty Boy Floyd” has been mentioned as filling the May 5 date with either US southpaw Robert Guerrero, 29-1-1 with 18 knockouts, or Mexico’s Saul “Cinnamon” Alvarez, the WBC light-middleweight champion who is 39-0 with one drawn and 29 knockouts.

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If before Mayweather has been giving every excuse to dodge Pacquiao, now he is doing everything just to have Pacquiao agree to fight him. Why? The reason is crystal-clear. He is to be incarcerated and he needs money. Aside from that, he knows being jailed would have a terrible effect to his ability as a boxer.

To put an end to the question by millions of boxing fans who still don’t believe that Mayweather is no match to the Filipino champion, Bob Arum should facilitate the contract signing and make
the much-awaited much fight come to reality.

To Bob Arum: If you’re looking for a rich payout, make this Maweather-Pacquiao bout possible. You will be making the biggest mistake of your career as promoter by choosing a fourth encounter between Pacquiao and Marquez. Attendance and pay per view will definitely plummet more that anyone expects as everyone knows that the same lackluster performance from Marquez will be seen. Same result and same dialogue by Marquez ” I wuz robbed”.

ayaw pagulang ni arum, boths sides are utilizing every means to secure more cash at the expense of the boxing fans. if both fighters are willing let them fight. let arum, his, pride and piggy bank take a dive for once.

Anonymous

Opel- u are right na Hindi magpagulang si Arum. Si Floyd ay napakagulang nyan specially in business. To be fair, Floyd is right. He manages himself so he got most of the money. From a boxer’s standpoint, he wants to fight his dream opponent. From the manager’s standpoint, he wants to make the most for the business of boxing. He wants an opponent that will generate money. See? He wants to expand the capacity of the venue for more people to watch. Promoters make money in gate and pay per view income.
Arum is right not to agree on the date of the fight. He must not allow Floyd Mayweather to manipulate things. Floyd is very good in psychological warfare.

http://twitter.com/captmanny1 Manny Ucat

Listen money Gayweather! tweet tweet like a birds.Privado o deretsahan na bring your contract now tweety. No to social network?

http://twitter.com/jigreats ji

Tweeting is a powerful tool to bring news across the world, you could not take back what you had said unlike spoken words when not recorded you could always deny it…at express pa ito kaya nga natin pinag-uusapan ang tweet ni kumag, di ba bro?

lucidlynx

as much as i want to see this fight happen, i think manny pacquiao should not entertain a fight with mayweather anyweather. mayweather is rude, arrogant, and full of crap. he was the one avoiding a fight with pacquiao by coming up with those silly drug tests that the Nevada Boxing Commission doesn’t even care about.

we should just let mayweather speak his heart out. anyway, he doesn’t matter anymore. a lot of reputable boxing analysts and experts have already recognized manny’s achievents in boxing.

http://twitter.com/jigreats ji

Let’s set aside the personal characteristics of Floyd or Manny but let’s concentrate on how to end the question on “who is really the best fighter between the two”, the mega fight will answer all the questions of boxing aficianados and stop all speculation before its too late!

Anonymous

Lucidlynx— you forgot that Floyd is a criminal too. In another news, he got a civil lawsuit in Las Vegas alleging that he arranged some people to be shot and killed but they survived. That civil lawsuit will cost him a lot of money.